Question Silent 155mm or under cpu air cooler for 5700x

cifroes

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May 3, 2011
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I own a Cooler Master SILENCIO 352 case and I'm going to upgrade to a 5700x. My main feature is to have a very silent cooler when in light use. This case limitation is at 155mm height and my RAM is also 42mm height. I don't want to OC anything, I'll be using to play a bit and work and I value very much is low noise. I don't mind paying extra for extra low noise but only if there's really a difference.

In my country the 'good brands' I know I can get a cooler are Artic, Cooler Master, Corsair, Noctua and some models from be quiet! I can NOT get anything from Scythe or Thermalright.

Right now on my list of coolers that fit:
  • be-quiet pure rock slim 2 - 25€ [OUT OF STOCK]
  • Noctua NH-U9S - 48€
  • Noctua NH-C14S - 76€ [OUT OF STOCK]
  • Artic Freezer A13X CO - 23€
Is the Noctua NH-U9S worth the extra price, is it going to be much lower noise than an Artic Freezer or the be-quiet model?

Right now I'm inclined to test out the artic freezer (because the pure rock slim 2 is out of stock) and just see if I like it because the price of the noctua is double... I don't mind to pay extra for more comfort but I'm not sure if it's worth it.
 
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i don't know about the others but i have a pure rock slim 2 in a mini-itx case and it runs very quiet. so does the larger pure rock 2 which is right on 155mm.

i have the slim on a 3600x and the larger pure rock on a 5900x. both are cool n quiet. too bad it is out of stock for you 🙁
 
Can you find a new noctua NH-D12a @ 145mm?
It uses a 120mm fan which will be quieter and more effective than the NH-U9s 92mm fans.

Another option is vetroo. Their coolers are 152mm:
https://www.newegg.com/vetroo-u6pro...roo-_-13C-00F3-00010-_-Product&quicklink=true

I can the NH-D12L. I excluded it just because of price: 90€ where Noctua NH-U9S is almost half that and in terms of noise specs seems to be very close. although in theory I agree with you, with 120mm it should be lower noise... My problem is justifying it against an artic freezer that costs almost 4 times less 😀
 
i don't know about the others but i have a pure rock slim 2 in a mini-itx case and it runs very quiet. so does the larger pure rock 2 which is right on 155mm.

i have the slim on a 3600x and the larger pure rock on a 5900x. both are cool n quiet. too bad it is out of stock for you 🙁

The pure rock 2 is exactly the tolerance for this case, I'm a bit afraid of it but also about RAM. Does the fan hang over the RAM or isn't that a problem? because mines are at 42mm and it seems the cooler clearance is at 38mm
 
on my mobo the ram slots are not under the cooler at all. but if they were it would def be hitting it. i have no heatsinks on my ram so they are not tall at all.

the mobo is a GB B450 Aorus Pro and that cooler is far enough away i could easily populate all 4 ram slots and not hit the fan at all. the heatsink is not that thick as many of the top end ones are which is probably why it does not extend as far.
 
I can the NH-D12L. I excluded it just because of price: 90€ where Noctua NH-U9S is almost half that and in terms of noise specs seems to be very close. although in theory I agree with you, with 120mm it should be lower noise... My problem is justifying it against an artic freezer that costs almost 4 times less 😀
The big difference is that the NH-D12L cools better;
The cooling NSPR rating is is 148 compared to the 98 for the NH-U9s.
To reach a required level of cooling, the NH-D12L fans will not need to work as hard.
 
What cpu is an upgrade to a 5700X from?
What is the main use of your pc?
If it is for gaming, a cheaper 5600X will perform just as well and save you a bit.
Both have about the same single thread performance.
The difference is that the 5700X has 16 processing threads vs. 12 for the 5600x.
Only multiplayer games can make effective use of more than 6-8 threads.
If your main use is multithreaded apps, then more cores are better, but you should be using a strong cpu cooler for when all threads are loaded.